Control Room-less studios.

[LeedyGuy]

Ask Lanois. He did all those AMAZING U2 recordings with no control room, right? Achtung Baby? Joshua Tree? Worked for him. He also said that everyone needs to check out recording in Mexico because it has the best electrical current.

[Red Rockets Glare]

I record bands in my garage that I've converted into a soundproof room and I really enjoy it. I like being able to talk to the folks after a take and I can usually suss out a problem faster being in there with them as well, be it electrical or musical.
That said, the bands I'm recording don't play terribly loud and almost always welcome my opinions and ideas. Just the other day I grabbed a shaker and shook it near the drummer while the band was tracking live because it occured to me that it would sound nice. It did.
If I were running more of a 'barber shop' style studio where I was expected to just keep quiet and not interfere I would want my own space behind the glass.
I have plans to build a control room someday if the business takes off enough to warrant it, but it's just a really fun hobby that I make a few bucks at for now.

[Rodgre]

Thanks for all the insight.

Sounds great for some, not so great for others. I like the idea of the interaction with the artists, but I've never felt that was an issue for me when i am in a control room either. I've even run out and played tambourine with the drummer too!

I guess my question is that if you were building a new room and you could either design it with an isolated control room or leave it one big open space, which would you choose? Those without control rooms, do you prefer it completely, or if you had your druthers, would you have a control room, but just can't build one now?

Roger

[GLEA]

My basement studio doesn't have an isolated control room. When I remodeled a few years ago, I considered sealing up the alcove where the desk is, but I realized I could never soundproof it, and the comfort control issue was going to be a major concern. What I did do was build some closets on the opposite end of the space for amps. There is also a small bathroom and a large utility room. There are some very different sounding areas to use as the space is broken up some. I've got loads of gobos for the drum kit, which sits in the corner. Behind the kit are two walls of albums, which do wonders for absorbing some of the energy. If its a really loud drummer, I can pull some more tall gobos across the archway into my space. I've gotten used to working this way. The direct contact with the band is good. I know how to get a good drum sound quickly, and we burn some tape to make sure it's working. Once that's done, I can still make adjustments, but the hardest part is done.

When we are happy with the basics, I usually try to get the drums out, and then it's the big control room for overdubs. I set up a vocal booth, a keyboard area and a guitar area, so we can just move through the songs with out much change over. There is a couch in the far corner, so I don't have the band leaning over my shoulder the whole time, but they are there to make comments. I have a set of speakers out in the room so they can hear what's happened to their songs. Been doing this for 15 years now, and no one has ever had a problem. Mostly bands enjoy not having a glass wall between them and me. I make sure there are plenty of rock mags and books to keep people occupied when they are not working, and there is the record collection that reminds them that we are there to make music... cha cha cha

[Brett Siler]

I just record in a bedroom in my house. There is no isolated control room and I hve come up with some decent results. I usually don't do live stuff cause the room is kinda small. I measured it out and it almost a squarbox, 15X18X15X18, with 8 foot ceiling. Here is a live track I recorded of my band in that room:

http://www.purevolume.com/gratis

[hank hill]

I have one and I love it. I love the vibe and the ease and in my case I love the acoustics. I'm not at the level as alot of you but I can do alright.

For drums you just need to record and playback a few times to get the sound dialed in. The biggest drawback when recording drums is that after drums are tracked you have to stop for the evening and let your ears recover. This usually isnt a problem in my situation.

For everything else I have a small iso room (the walls inside fold down to make an iso box for guitar cabs). Its pretty soundproof so most everything else can be tracked in there. Only the loudest guitar cab bleeds out but usually in those cases the guitarist wants the monitors blasting anyway.

Theres 2 problems.

1... People in bands are annoying and Id rather them be in another room.

2... Heres the HUGE problem! When someone new is coming in to see the place THEY FREAK. This might not be a problem where other people are but down here in South Florida people are pretty set in their ways and not very creative. I think it holds back my business alot. Clients think they wont be able to deal with it. They dont know about things like gear and ACOUSTICS (let alone engineering skills) all they see is one huge room and since its something different and it scares them.

It bothers me sometimes because I'd say about 80 percent of the studios around town only have little 8x8 rooms with 8 foot ceilings and I just dont dig the acoustics at all. I picked my space because of the size and all and chose specifically to keep it control room less. If I would have divided it up into little rooms like the other places around town the acoustics wouldn't have been as cool.

Just my opinion. As a musician (yes Im biased) I would LOVE to work at a place like Chroma. Everything about it seems perfect and its sort of the model of what I would like my situation to evolve into. So again.. to answer you question yes I would go control room less again.

[Brett Siler]

People in bands are annoying and Id rather them be in another room.

HAHA! There has been a couple of cases where I have felt that way.ha Sometime it's nice to be in the same room when cutting vocals cause then you can talk to them and calm them down, make some jokes or talk to the to easy the tension.

[Mr. Dipity]

I have one and I love it. I love the vibe and the ease and in my case I love the acoustics. I'm not at the level as alot of you but I can do alright.

For drums you just need to record and playback a few times to get the sound dialed in. The biggest drawback when recording drums is that after drums are tracked you have to stop for the evening and let your ears recover. This usually isnt a problem in my situation.

Have you tried using $50 Drummer's headphones, or the tapeop ghetto equivalent - earbuds under shooting muffs?

You really don't want to do anything that requires your 'ears to recover' for an evening.

[Brett Siler]

the tapeop ghetto equivalent - earbuds under shooting muffs?

I made a couple of these and they work great. They are extemely easy to make to. It probably only takes about 5 minutes to make them.

[Devlars]

As with some others when you have no choice you learn the room and you learn to adjust what you can. I record in a large open church sanctuary that sounds fantastic nd isn't too difficult to get seperation (drums on platform, guitars in choir loft, bass in side room etc.) However I must say I like a little bleed between tracks (a little). As for the whole issue of knowing that what you're hearing is accurate and not coloured by the ambience in the room itself easy I just picked up two pairs of the Sennheiser HD280s (32dB of ambient noise attenuation, very comfy and pretty even across the spectrum)

[Dan Phelps]

Thanks for all the insight.

I guess my question is that if you were building a new room and you could either design it with an isolated control room or leave it one big open space, which would you choose?

Roger

Well...in my situation I would choose a really big open space with zones dedicated to different types of instruments. Like, a guitar zone with amps and pedals, a keyboard zone, a drum/percussion zone, etc. And of course a "control room" zone. This would be great for me, but I also don't record bands very much. More often than not I'm working by myself or with just one or two people at a time, so it would be a major hassle to be going thru iso doors. Plus, I like the zone thing because anyone can just walk over to the keyboard zone and turn on the rhodes, or the optigan, and start play. Then, as engineer, you can just grab a mic from some where else in the room and drag it over...

That being said, depending on the size and acoustics of the room, I would treat the drum zone (I generally like drums recorded in a corner of a room) with some dampending on the walls, some 3 or 4 foot tall gobos in front of the kit, and maybe even a canopy over the kit. I would have a few ISO boxes for super loud guitar cabs, etc, etc...

So...the big room makes sense to me, but I've grown up with that sort of mentality and I have a lot of instruments and plan to collect more as time goes on. I wish I could buy/rent a movie theatre. I can see how it would be a hassle/steep learning curve.

I mean, don't you think the term "Control Room" is a little Orwellian to being with? Should it be something like "The Nice Room," or "The Friendly Room?"

As always,
Dan

[djdrake13]

My choice.. No control for tracking, But one for mixing, It's nice to have the control room deaden and acoustically tweaked for mixing (obvious reasons) but i love trackin with the artists right there.. then we sit around and listen to it, jump right up and get back on the mic, etc.. it works really well with hip hop. I'm a lucky S.O.B. cause at work i have a smaller treated mixing room, and at home i track in the living room/bathroom/ shit anywhere i can find.

[hank hill]

Hi sserendipity. I probably made it sound worse than it really is but I have to admit that in a one room situation you gotta keep tabs on that drummer that just cant stop playing when theres a kit in front of him. It can get on your nerves. I guess thats what i meant by "letting your ears recover"

[vernier]

No control-room can work .. just run tape and play it back when settin' up mics etc. I'd try your new space without a control-room first, or maybe add partitions and make a control-room-like area. I've recorded every which way (for decades) and like playing in the control room alot.

http://www.singinjane.com/

[DJ Healer]

at home i track in the living room/bathroom/ shit anywhere i can find.

This is one of the biggest problems with home recording- sure the vocals in the bathroom might sound cool- but if you're tracking in the bathroom, you have to find a new place to shit. Not professional at all.